Harvest Customer Tracking Information

ABSTRACT

An embodiment of a system comprises one or more processors; and one or more memories adapted to store machine-readable instructions which when executed by the processor(s) cause the system to: receive tracked user device information from a distributed network of sensors configured for tracking user device information associated with one or more user devices of corresponding users in a proximity of the distributed network of sensors, wherein the user device information is tracked even when the corresponding users have not opted in the one or more user devices to be tracked by the distributed network of sensors; store the tracked user device information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked user device information is stored even for corresponding users that have not been identified and is for later use when such corresponding users are identified; and analyze the tracked user device information to infer interests of the corresponding users.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to customerinformation, and more particularly, to methods and systems for harvestof customer tracking information.

2. Related Art

Customers regularly engage in transactions at a seller's location, forexample, to purchase a service or an item at a retail store. Thecustomers may generally walk around the seller's location to peruse thedifferent items or services offered by the seller before they maypurchase the item or service. To complete a transaction, customers mayuse rewards or club cards and a transaction card or a mobile device forpayment.

SUMMARY

As will be further described herein in relation to various embodiments,methods and systems are provided for harvesting of customer trackinginformation, such that, for example, the locations of customers aretracked by their mobile devices, and identity information is associatedwith the mobile devices.

In accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure, a system comprisesone or more processors; and one or more memories in communication withthe one or more processors and adapted to store a plurality ofmachine-readable instructions which when executed by the one or moreprocessors are adapted to cause the system to: receive tracked userdevice information from a distributed network of sensors configured fortracking user device information associated with one or more userdevices of corresponding users in a proximity of the distributed networkof sensors, wherein the user device information is tracked even when thecorresponding users have not opted in the one or more user devices to betracked by the distributed network of sensors; store the tracked userdevice information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked userdevice information is stored even for corresponding users that have notbeen identified and is for later use when such corresponding users areidentified; and analyze the tracked user device information to inferinterests of the corresponding users.

In accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure, a methodcomprises receiving, electronically by a processor, user deviceinformation associated with one or more user devices of correspondingusers located proximate to and tracked by a distributed network ofsensors, wherein the user device information is tracked even when thecorresponding users have not opted in to participate. The method alsocomprises storing, electronically by the processor, the tracked userdevice information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked userdevice information is stored even for corresponding users that have notbeen identified and is for later use when such corresponding users areidentified. The method further comprises analyzing the tracked deviceinformation to infer interests of the corresponding users.

In accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure, anon-transitory computer readable medium on which are stored computerreadable instructions and, when executed by a processor, cause theprocessor to: receive user device information associated with one ormore user devices of corresponding users located proximate to andtracked by a distributed network of sensors, wherein the user deviceinformation is tracked even when the corresponding users have not optedin to participate; store the tracked user device information in atracking database, wherein the tracked user device information is storedeven for corresponding users that have not been identified and is forlater use when such corresponding users are identified; and analyze thetracked device information to infer interests of the correspondingusers.

These and other features and advantages of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure will be more readily apparent from the detaileddescription of the embodiments set forth below taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for tracking user deviceinformation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a system for tracking user deviceinformation at a business location according to another embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for tracking and identifying customersassociated with a user device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a system for implementing a deviceaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

Like element numbers in different figures represent the same or similarelements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with various embodiments described herein, methods andsystems are provided for harvesting of customer tracking information. Inan embodiment, the proximity of user devices such as cell phones may bedetected by sensors located at a place of business, e.g., at a retailstore. Multiple sensors may be used to track the presence and movementof customers inside the place of business. This information may beuseful to businesses for any number of purposes. For example, retailersmay find this information useful for general analytics, store layout,customer flow, departments or products of interest to specific customersand/or other useful purposes.

In other embodiments, an application may be provided from a serviceprovider to customers such that the customers may choose to load orinstall and nm the application on their user devices. The applicationmay enable detection of other nearby user devices (e.g., user devices ofother customers, even those not having the application) and may uploadthis information (e.g., information regarding the locations of nearbyuser devices) to a tracking database. In some embodiments, WiFi packetsniffing, near field communication (NFC) or other suitable technologiesmay be used for discovering and tracking the locations of user devices.As such, a distributed network of sensors is provided that may track thelocations of all nearby user devices. The application may be provided bya service provider such as PayPal® and/or eBay® of San Jose, Calif.

In addition to tracking customers by their user devices, for example, bysensors in a business location and/or by an application enablingtracking of locations of customers, customer identity information mayalso be associated with the user devices. The user devices may beassociated with the corresponding customers in any number of ways. Forexample, a user device may be associated with the corresponding customerat a business location point of sale, where the customer may disclosehis or her identity when paying by credit card or any other transactioncard, or when using a club or rewards card. In another example, thecustomer's identity may be determined by having customers register theiruser devices with the service provider in exchange for an incentive suchas a reward or contest entry.

Once the customer's identity is associated with a particular userdevice, the identity information may be used along with anypreviously-gathered tracking information to understand what productsinterest specific customers, at all business locations that he or shevisits.

As such, customers may be discovered and tracked by their user deviceswithout the customers necessarily having to have awareness, knowledge,provide consent, or otherwise having to opt in. A distributed network ofsensors on certain user devices may be created, possibly in conjunctionwith sensors located at a place of business, such that customers may beidentified and tracked, even those who may not have opted into thesystem.

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes ofillustrating embodiments of the present disclosure only, and not forpurposes of limiting the same, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating asystem for tracking user device information according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a block diagram of a system 100adapted to track and identify a customer 102 associated with a userdevice 120. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 includes at least oneuser device 120 (e.g., network computing device), one or more sellerservers or devices 140 (e.g., network server devices), and at least oneservice provider server or device 180 (e.g., network server device) incommunication over a network 160.

The network 160, in one embodiment, may be implemented as a singlenetwork or a combination of multiple networks. For example, in variousembodiments, the network 160 may include the Internet and/or one or moreintranets, cloud, landline networks, wireless networks, and/or otherappropriate types of communication networks. In another example, thenetwork 160 may comprise a wireless telecommunications network (e.g.,cellular phone network) adapted to communicate with other communicationnetworks, such as the Internet. As such, in various embodiments, theuser device 120, seller servers or devices 140, and service providerserver or device 180 may be associated with a particular link (e.g., alink such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to an IP (InternetProtocol) address).

The user device 120, in various embodiments, may be implemented usingany appropriate combination of hardware and/or software configured forwired and/or wireless communication over the network 160. In variousexamples, the user device 120 may be implemented as a wireless telephone(e.g., cellular, mobile, etc.), a smart phone, a tablet, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a personal computer, a notebook computer,and/or various other generally known types of wired and/or wirelesscomputing devices. It should be appreciated that the user device 120 maybe referred to as a client device, a mobile device, or a customer devicewithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

The user device 120, in one embodiment, includes a user interfaceapplication 122, which may be utilized by the user 102 to conducttransactions such as financial transactions (e.g., shopping, purchasing,bidding, etc.) with the service provider server 180 over the network160. In one aspect, purchase expenses may be directly and/orautomatically debited from an account related to the user 102 via theuser interface application 122.

In one implementation, the user interface application 122 comprises asoftware program, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), executableby a processor that is configured to interface and communicate with theservice provider server 180 via the network 160. In anotherimplementation, the user interface application 122 comprises a browsermodule that provides a network interface to browse information availableover the network 160. For example, the user interface application 122may be implemented, in part, as a web browser to view informationavailable over the network 160. In another example, the user 102 is ableto access seller websites or lists of inventories via the one or moreseller servers or devices 140 to view and select items and/or servicesfor purchase, and the user 102 is able to purchase items and/or servicesfrom the one or more seller servers or devices 140 via the serviceprovider server 180. Accordingly, the user 102 may conduct transactionssuch as financial transactions (e.g., view, purchase and pay for itemsand/or services) from the one or more seller servers or devices 140 viathe service provider server 180.

The user device 120, in various embodiments, may include otherapplications 128 as may be desired in one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure to provide additional features available to the user102. In one example, such other applications 128 may include securityapplications for implementing client-side security features,programmatic client applications for interfacing with appropriateapplication programming interfaces (APIs) over the network 160, and/orvarious other types of generally known programs and/or softwareapplications. In still other examples, the other applications 128 mayinterface with the user interface application 122 for improvedefficiency and convenience.

According to one or more embodiments, the user interface application 122or the other applications 128 include an application that may be loadedon user device 120 from service provider server 180 or from a sellerserver 140. Such application enables user device 120 to detect othernearby user devices (even ones not running the application). One or moresensors or detectors 131 may detect the other nearby user devices, forexample, by using the user device's WiFi as nearby user devices arelocated in a proximity of the user device 120, such as in front of ahotspot WiFi, Bluetooth range, or the like. In addition, the applicationenables uploading of the detected information, for example, thelocations of nearby user devices to a tracking database 196 of serviceprovider server 180 or to a seller tracking database 142 of sellerserver 140. User 102 may get incentives such as rewards from a sellerassociated with seller server 140 for installing and running theapplication and providing the data or detected information.

In various embodiments, the information tracked by user device 120(having the downloaded application) may supplement information trackedby fixed sensors located within a business or seller's location. Suchfixed sensors may be generally positioned at known locations and alwaysavailable as will be described in more detail below with respect to theembodiment of FIG. 2. As such, a distributed network of sensors fortracking the locations of all nearby user devices is provided. Thenetwork of sensors may be used to gather information about signals(e.g., radio signals) transmitted by the user devices. Raw signalstrength information along with known locations of the sensors may beconverted into user device locations.

Once the information about user devices has been detected, the users maybe associated with the corresponding user devices. This association maybe accomplished in a number of ways. For example, at a point of sale ofa seller location where a customer discloses his or her identity whenpaying by credit card, other transaction card, or when using a club orrewards card or any other identifying means. Another example forassociation of a user with the corresponding user device may involvehaving users opt in or register their user devices with the system inexchange for an incentive such as a reward or contest entry. It shouldbe noted that it may not be necessary for the user to opt in at thepoint of sale; for instance, if the user pays by credit card or otheridentifying means, the identifying information may be matched to theuser's device by placing device sensors at the point of sale.

In an embodiment, user device 120 may include at least one useridentifier 130, which may be implemented, for example, as operatingsystem registry entries, cookies associated with the user interfaceapplication 122, identifiers associated with hardware of the user device120, or various other appropriate identifiers. The user identifier 130may include one or more attributes related to user 102, such as personalinformation related to user 102 (e.g., one or more user names,passwords, photograph images, biometric IDs, addresses, phone numbers,etc.) and banking information and/or funding sources (e.g., one or morebanking institutions, credit card issuers, user account numbers,security data and information, etc.). In various implementations, useridentifier 130 may be passed with a user login request to the serviceprovider server 180 via the network 160, and the user identifier 130 maybe used by the service provider server 180 to associate the user 102with a particular user account maintained by the service provider server180.

The one or more seller servers or devices 140, in various embodiments,may be maintained by one or more individuals or business entities,profit or non-profit (or in some cases, by a partner of a businessentity that processes transactions on behalf of business entities). Itshould be appreciated that individuals or business entities may also bereferred to as “sellers” or “merchants” without departing from the scopeof the present disclosure. Examples of sellers include merchant sites orlocations such as retail stores, resource information sites orlocations, utility sites or locations, real estate management sites orlocations, etc., which may offer various items and/or services forpurchase and payment.

In some embodiments, users may opt in or register user identityinformation with the sellers in exchange for an incentive such as areward or a contest entry. In other embodiments, users may opt in orregister user identity information with the sellers or with the serviceprovider over the network 160. In various embodiments, users may opt inor register with the system in various manners, for example, a user mayrespond to an invitation such as a pop-up message on the user devicewhen the user is in or close to a business location asking the userwhether he or she wants to “opt in” or have movements tracked within thebusiness location. In other embodiments, the user may opt in or registerwhen loading the application on the user device as described above, forexample, as a one-time opt-in feature on the application.

As such, each of the one or more seller servers 140 may include a sellertracking database 142 for detecting, tracking and/or identifying usersand their associated user devices. It should be appreciated thatalthough a user-seller transaction is illustrated in this embodiment,the system may also be applicable to user-user, seller-seller and/orseller-user transactions.

Each of the seller servers or devices 140, in one embodiment, mayinclude a checkout application 146, which may be configured tofacilitate financial transactions (e.g., purchase transactions) by theuser 102 of items and/or services offered by the seller. As such, in oneaspect, the checkout application 146 may be configured to accept paymentinformation from the user 102 over the network 160.

Each of the seller servers or devices 140, in one embodiment, mayinclude at least one seller identifier 148, which may be included aspart of the one or more items and/or services made available forpurchase so that, e.g., particular items and/or services are associatedwith particular sellers. In one implementation, the seller identifier148 may include one or more attributes and/or parameters related to theseller, such as business and banking information. User 102 may conducttransactions such as financial transactions (e.g., selection,monitoring, purchasing, and/or providing payment for items and/orservices) with each seller server 140 via the service provider server180 over the network 160.

The service provider server 180, in one embodiment, may be maintained bya transaction processing entity, which may provide processing forfinancial transactions and/or information transactions between the user102 and one or more of the seller servers 140. As such, the serviceprovider server 180 includes a service application 182, which may beadapted to interact with each user device 120 and/or each seller server140 over the network 160 to facilitate the tracking and identificationof the user 102 as well as the selection, purchase, and/or payment ofitems and/or services by the user 102 from one or more of the sellerservers 140. In one example, the service provider server 180 may beprovided by PayPal®, Inc. and/or eBay®, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., USA.

The service application 182, in one embodiment, utilizes a paymentprocessing module 184 to process purchases and/or payments for financialtransactions between the user 102 and each of the seller servers 140. Inone implementation, the payment processing module 184 assists withresolving financial transactions through validation, delivery, andsettlement. As such, the service application 182 in conjunction with thepayment processing module 184 settles indebtedness between the user 102and each of the seller servers 140, wherein accounts may be directlyand/or automatically debited and/or credited of monetary funds in amanner as accepted by the banking industry.

The service provider server 180, in one embodiment, may be configured tomaintain one or more user accounts and seller accounts in an accountdatabase 192, each of which may include account information 194associated with one or more individual users (e.g., user 102) andsellers (e.g., one or more sellers associated with seller servers 140).For example, account information 194 may include private financialinformation of each user 102 and each seller associated with the one ormore seller servers 140, such as one or more account numbers, passwords,credit card information, banking information, or other types offinancial information, which may be used to facilitate financialtransactions between the user 102 and the one or more sellers associatedwith the seller servers 140. In various aspects, the methods and systemsdescribed herein may be modified to accommodate users and/or sellersthat may or may not be associated with at least one existing useraccount and/or seller account, respectively.

In one implementation, the user 102 may have identity attributes storedwith the service provider server 180, and the user 102 may havecredentials to authenticate or verify identity with the service providerserver 180. User attributes may include personal information, bankinginformation and/or funding sources as previously described. In variousaspects, the user attributes may be passed to the service providerserver 180 as part of a login, selection, purchase, and/or paymentrequest, and the user attributes may be utilized by the service providerserver 180 to associate the user 102 with one or more particular useraccounts maintained by the service provider server 180.

The system described above with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1 maybe used to track customer information such as the location of customersby their user devices and associate identity information with their userdevices.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a diagram illustrates a system for trackinguser device information at a business location according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure.

According to one or more embodiments, a business location 240 may haveone or more sensors 206 a . . . 206 n (where n is an integer number)located throughout the premises of business location 240. As describedabove, business location 240 may be a place where transactions areconducted such as a retail store. Sensors 206 a . . . 206 n may bepositioned on or within any surface such as walls, fixed or modularfurniture, racks, shelves or on any other suitable location in businesslocation 240. Sensors 206 a . . . 206 n may include any device that isadapted to detect the proximity of user devices. For example, WiFipacket sniffing, near field communication (NFC) or other suitabletechnologies may be used for detecting user devices. In an embodiment,sensor 206 a may detect a mobile device 220 of a customer 202 that maybe interested in conducting a transaction, e.g., purchasing an item,from business location 240.

As customer 202 moves around business location 240, sensors 206 a . . .206 n may detect the mobile device 220 based on the mobile device'sunique identification signals. In embodiments where mobile device 220 isa web-enabled device, the mobile device may be identified by its uniquenetwork identifiers. The multiple sensors 206 a . . . 206 n thus trackthe presence and movement of customers inside business location 240.This information may be useful to business entities for any number ofpurposes, including, for example, general analytics, store layout,customer flow, and the departments or products of interest to specificcustomers.

As described above with respect to FIG. 1, in an embodiment where a userdevice such as user device 220 (or user device 120 in FIG. 1) includes adownloaded application and one or more detectors, such a user device maydetect and track other nearby user devices such as a user device 225 ofuser 226 (as indicated by line A), which may come into a proximity ofuser device 220. Notably, user device 225 of user 226 may also bedetected and tracked (as indicated by line B) by sensors 206 a . . . 206n as user 226 moves around business location 240.

Thus, a distributed network of sensors is created, which may includefixed sensors within business locations, which may be positioned atknown locations and are always available, and which may be supplementedby detectors running on one or more user devices as described above withrespect to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a method for tracking and identifying customersassociated with a user device is illustrated according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

In block 302, a distributed network of sensors may be created fortracking user device information.

As described above according to one or more embodiments, a distributednetwork of sensors that tracks customer information or data may becreated by positioning one more fixed sensors throughout a place ofbusiness, for example, as illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 2, whichmay be supplemented with detectors in one or more user devices, forexample, as illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 1, wherein users ofcertain user devices may install and run an application that detectsother nearby user devices. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the sensors maybe generally fixed. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the sensors may bepotentially in motion as a user device having the downloaded applicationmoves around a given location.

In various embodiments, the distributed network of sensors may justinclude fixed sensors deployed at a business location that detect nearbyuser devices (e.g., as described in the embodiment of FIG. 2). In otherembodiments, the distributed network of sensors may just include userdevices of users that download and run a tracking application on theiruser devices such that the user devices may detect other nearby userdevices (e.g., as described in the embodiment of FIG. 1). In furtherembodiments, the distributed network of sensors may include the fixedsensors at a business location possibly augmented by sensors in users'devices having the downloaded tracking application.

With respect to an embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 1, an applicationmay be provided to users, which users may choose to install and run ontheir user devices. The application may be provided for downloading froma seller or a service provider, for example, a seller associated withseller server 140 or a service provider associated with service providerserver 180 illustrated in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment. In oneembodiment, when user 102 (referring to FIG. 1) has a pre-existingaccount with service provider server 180 wherein user 102 has identityattributes stored with service provider server 180 as described above,user 102 may download the application on user device 120 from serviceprovider server 180.

The application, once downloaded in the user device, may utilize theuser device Wi-Fi, for example, to detect other nearby user devices thatmay come into proximity of the user device, even ones not running theapplication. For example, a user may turn on the application on his orher user device while shopping in a retail store, which may detect otheruser devices associated with other customers shopping in the proximityin the retail store. In that regard, the user device having thedownloaded application may detect other nearby user devices when theycome within a certain distance, area or radius, or when the other nearbyusers are within a certain hotspot WiFi, Bluetooth range, or the like.An appropriate proximity may be when the user device having thedownloaded application comes within a radius of another nearby userdevice set at approximately 50 yards, 100 yards, 150 yards, etc., orwhen another user device is standing in the vicinity, or in front of theuser device having the downloaded application.

With respect to an embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 2, sensors may beused in a business location to detect the proximity of user devices suchas cell phones. In that regard, sensors or other suitable detectiontechnology may be used inside the business location, for example,“in-store” sensors may be used throughout the business location asdescribed above. Customer tracking information or data from the“in-store” sensors may be augmented or supplemented by trackinginformation from any present user devices running a trackingapplication.

Unique user devices may be identified based on the user devices' uniqueidentification signals. In one or more embodiments where the userdevices are web-enabled, unique user devices may be identified by theirunique network identifiers.

The presence and movements of customers associated with the user devicesthroughout the business location are tracked.

Once information about the user devices has been obtained, for example,the locations of one or more user devices as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and2, the owners or users themselves may be associated with theircorresponding user devices. Users may be associated with their userdevices in any number of ways. For example, at a point of sale locationwhere the user discloses his or her identity when paying by a creditcard or other transaction card, or when using a club or rewards card. Inanother example, users may be associated with their user devices byhaving the users register their user devices with the service inexchange for an incentive such as a reward or contest entry. As such,the identification and tracking of users who have not opted into thesystem may be obtained. In that regard, one or more embodiments hereinmay be used to discover, identify and/or track customers who have userdevices without them necessarily being aware or opting into orparticipating in the system.

In block 304, tracking information such as user device information andassociated owner or user information may be uploaded to a trackingdatabase, which may be used for later analysis. In an embodiment,tracking information may be stored even for unidentified users, thenlater, when a user is identified, the information may become useful.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the sensors may be potentially in motion asa user device having the downloaded application moves around a givenlocation. In that regard, user devices may upload the informationassociated with the nearby user devices to a tracking database, even forthose nearby user devices not running the application. The trackingdatabase may be maintained by a seller server or by a service providerserver, for example, seller tracking database 142 or service providertracking database 196 as illustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 1. Theinformation may include, for example, the locations of nearby userdevices. Optionally, customers or users may be given incentives such asrewards or an entry in a contest, for running the application anduploading or providing the information associated with the other nearbyuser devices.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the sensors may be generally fixed. In thatregard, tracking information associated with one or more user devices,which is detected by the fixed sensors, may also be uploaded to atracking database maintained by a seller server or by a service providerserver.

In some embodiments, a single sensor may not be able to determinetracking information, for example the location of a user, but bycombining information from multiple sensors, for example with sensorslocated throughout a store, it may be possible to determine the user'slocation.

In block 306, the tracking information may be analyzed to determine, forexample, customer identity, location and/or movement, to infer productinterest. Once the user's identity is associated with a particular userdevice, the information may be used along with the previously-gatheredtracking information, to understand what products interest specificusers or customers, at all stores that he or she visits. Trackinginformation stored in a tracking database, which may include customermovement or location, may be useful to business entities for any numberof reasons, including, for example, conducting general analytics, storelayout, customer flow, and the departments or products of interest tospecific customers.

Advantageously, according to one or more embodiments herein, adistributed network of sensors for tracking information associated withnearby user devices such as the locations of all nearby user devices maybe created. The network of sensors may be used to gather informationabout signals (e.g., radio signals) transmitted by the user devices. Forexample, the raw signal strength information along with the knownlocations of the sensors may be converted into user device locations.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system 400 suitable for implementingembodiments of the present disclosure, including user device 120, one ormore seller servers or devices 140, and service provider server ordevice 180. System 400, such as part of a cell phone, mobile phone,smart phone, tablet, personal computer and/or a network server, includesa bus 402 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, includingone or more of a processing component 404 (e.g., processor,micro-controller, digital signal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memorycomponent 406 (e.g., RAM), a static storage component 408 (e.g., ROM), anetwork interface component 412, a display component 414 (oralternatively, an interface to an external display), an input component416 (e.g., keypad or keyboard), and a cursor control component 418(e.g., a mouse pad).

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, system 400performs specific operations by processor 404 executing one or moresequences of one or more instructions contained in system memorycomponent 406. Such instructions may be read into system memorycomponent 406 from another computer readable medium, such as staticstorage component 408. These may include instructions to processfinancial transactions, make payments, etc. In other embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination withsoftware instructions for implementation of one or more embodiments ofthe disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a non-transitory computer readable medium, whichmay refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions toprocessor 404 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms,including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, andtransmission media. In various implementations, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as system memory component 406, and transmissionmedia includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, includingwires that comprise bus 402. Memory may be used to store visualrepresentations of the different options for payments or transactions.In one example, transmission media may take the form of acoustic orlight waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared datacommunications. Some common forms of computer readable media include,for example, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer isadapted to read.

In various embodiments of the disclosure, execution of instructionsequences to practice the disclosure may be performed by system 400. Invarious other embodiments, a plurality of systems 400 coupled bycommunication link 420 (e.g., network 160 of FIG. 1, LAN, WLAN, PTSN, orvarious other wired or wireless networks) may perform instructionsequences to practice the disclosure in coordination with one another.System 400 may transmit and receive messages, data, information andinstructions, including one or more programs (i.e., application code)through communication link 420 and communication interface 412. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 404 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 410 or some other non-volatile storage componentfor execution.

Although various components and steps have been described herein asbeing associated with user device 120, seller server 140, and paymentservice provider server 180 of FIG. 1, it is contemplated that thevarious aspects of such servers illustrated in FIG. 1 may be distributedamong a plurality of servers, devices, and/or other entities.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the spirit of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components, andvice-versa.

Software in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program codeand/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. Itis also contemplated that software identified herein may be implementedusing one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/orcomputer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, theordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined intocomposite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide featuresdescribed herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. It iscontemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modifications tothe present disclosure, whether explicitly described or implied herein,are possible in light of the disclosure.

Having thus described embodiments of the disclosure, persons of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form anddetail without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus thedisclosure is limited only by the claims.

1. A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories in communication with the one or more processors and adapted to store a plurality of machine-readable instructions which when executed by the one or more processors are adapted to cause the system to: receive tracked user device information from a distributed network of sensors configured for tracking user device information associated with one or more user devices of corresponding users in a proximity of the distributed network of sensors, wherein the distributed network of sensors detects and tracks the user device(s) of the corresponding users, and wherein the user device information is tracked even when the corresponding users have not opted in the one or more user devices to be tracked by the distributed network of sensors; store the tracked user device information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked user device information is stored even for corresponding users that have not been identified and is for later use when such corresponding users are identified; and analyze the tracked user device information to infer interests of the corresponding users.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to store identification information of the corresponding users of the one or more user devices.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to receive detected user device information from one or more sensors located at a place of business.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to receive detected user device information from the one or more sensors located at the place of business augmented by detected information from a user device having a downloaded tracking application that detects information associated with other nearby user devices.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed network of sensors detect user device information of user device(s) in the proximity of the sensors based on the user device(s) unique identification signals or unique network identifiers.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to receive, from a user device associated with a user that has opted in or registered the user device and has downloaded an application, user device information detected from other user devices located in a proximity of the user device having the downloaded application.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to receive, from the user device having the downloaded application, uploads of user device information associated with the other user devices located in the proximity.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to offer one or more incentives to users associated with the user device having the downloaded application for running the application and uploading the user device information.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to offer one or more incentives to associate user identity information with the user device information at a point of sale.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to cause the system to offer one or more incentives to associate user identity information with the user device information by receiving registration information from users of associated user devices.
 11. They system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of machine-readable instructions are further adapted to analyze the tracked user device information to determine specific items or services of interest to a particular user at one or all business locations that the particular user visits.
 12. A method comprising: receiving, electronically by a processor, user device information associated with one or more user devices of corresponding users located proximate to and tracked by a distributed network of sensors, wherein the distributed network of sensors detects and tracks the user device(s) of the corresponding users, and wherein the user device information is tracked even when the corresponding users have not opted in to participate; storing, electronically by the processor, the tracked user device information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked user device information is stored even for corresponding users that have not been identified and is for later use when such corresponding users are identified; and analyzing the tracked device information to infer interests of the corresponding users.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising downloading, by the processor at a server at a remote location, an application on the user device(s) of the corresponding users, wherein the application tracks and uploads user device information of one or more other users as the corresponding users come into proximity of the one or more other users.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising offering one or more incentives to the corresponding users associated with the user device(s) having the downloaded application for running the application and uploading the user device information.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying the corresponding users of the one or more user devices and storing identification information of the corresponding users.
 16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving the user device information from one or more sensors located at a place of business, wherein the sensor(s) located at the place of business are supplemented by one or more user devices comprising a downloaded application from a processor at a server at a remote location, wherein the application tracks and uploads user device information of one or more other nearby users.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining specific items or services of interest to a particular user at one or all business locations that the particular user visits.
 18. A non-transitory computer readable medium on which are stored computer readable instructions and, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: receive user device information associated with one or more user devices of corresponding users located proximate to and tracked by a distributed network of sensors, wherein the distributed network of sensors detects and tracks the user device(s) of the corresponding users, and wherein the user device information is tracked even when the corresponding users have not opted in to participate; store the tracked user device information in a tracking database, wherein the tracked user device information is stored even for corresponding users that have not been identified and is for later use when such corresponding users are identified; and analyze the tracked device information to infer interests of the corresponding users.
 19. The medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive the user device information from one or more sensors located at a place of business, wherein the sensor(s) located at the place of business are supplemented by one or more user devices having a downloaded application that tracks other nearby user devices.
 20. The medium of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to, determine user identity information associated with the user device information, and determine specific items or services of interest to a particular user at one or all business locations that the particular user visits. 